Don't Stop
by daftmunky
Summary: One-shot. The team get news that is upsetting for all, but especially Nell. How does Nell deal? Neric friendship/romance, but the team make an appearance. Set some time in between seasons 3 and 4. WARNING: allusions of rape and assault.


**Author's Note; **Hi everyone, this is my first fan fiction that I have published, so as usual constructive criticism gladly welcomed! As long as it is constructive. (Please forgive if I jump around in my tenses, it is something that I am aware of and working on in my writing.)

This was written as an inspiration from a couple of other fics that I have read centring around a character death on the team. I then remembered Nell and Nate's alluded acquaintance and decided to detail my own version of events.

A note on some of the content, I have absolutely no clue what courses Caltech offer so these are just theoretical courses based off of what I know the characters to have knowledge of.

And a second note, I can't remember the exact quote in here, and am unable to get a hold of it, so we're just going to go with this for now :)

But other than that, I hope everyone enjoys my first story and I would love to hear some feedback from you all :)

_**Denial and Isolation**_

(Callen):

"Nell, you need to stop." She ignores the voice and continues to push herself to move her legs faster. "You can't keep this up, you're going to run yourself to exhaustion." She resolutely says nothing. _Just keep moving._ Somewhere in the recesses of her mind she hears a sigh and senses rather than sees his retreating back. _Don't stop_.

(Sam):

" know you're hurting. We all are. You can't keep this up." _Push._ "You know we're all here. We all feel it too. Worse maybe." Silence. _Move. Don't quit._ She has to keep moving. A growl. "You weren't here last time this happened. You don't know what we all went through. Dammit, Nell, this is selfish and you know it. When you've stopped acting like the only person who cared about him and decide to be a part of this team you know where to find us."

"Back up, you know you're not helping. Time out." A second voice joins the first, but she continues to ignore the both of them.

"She's being selfish!"

"No, she's hurting. Just leave her be." _Don't react_. This time she registers two retreating sets of footsteps. _Don't stop_.

(Kensi):

"You know, he was the only one who pushed. Until Shaggy, obviously. It may have been his job, but I swear, the only times that I ever actually voluntarily opened up to him were when he was asking as a friend, not a professional." _You don't know him. Don't talk. Keep moving_. _He's coming home soon._ "He loved it here." _He still loves it._ "He was a good person." H_e is a good person_. "It's okay to feel like this. It's okay to hurt. Just- Just tell me if there is anything I can do. Please Nell. Just talk to me". _Just run_. "Dammit, this was his job. I'm not good at this." _Then don't do it, let him deal with it when he comes home_. "I'm not giving up on you Nell. And I'll be here. When you change your mind, we'll all be here." Footsteps. Quiet. _Don't stop_.

(Deeks):

"It sucks. I didn't really know the guy and it sucks. Callen won't talk. Hetty is on the phone all the time. I haven't seen Sam move away from his desk or his laptop. And Kensi, Kensi. Well, I don't think I've seen her eat a single piece of junk food since, well, since. Actually I haven't seen her eat. I should get her something. I don't know what they want from me. I expect you don't either. It's different for you, isn't it? He was your friend first, colleague second." _Increase the pace_. "Nell you've got to stop this. He wouldn't want this." _You don't know him. You don't know what he wants and what he doesn't want._ "We need the team. The whole team, you included. Especially you. Eric, geez Nell, the guy is a mess." _Eric. No. Keep going._ "He was sick when Hetty told us. He ran to the bathroom and didn't come out for an hour. He's been down at the beach since, I think. Hetty sent him. Said there was nothing for us to do. Well, she didn't send him to the beach, she sent him home. Well she sent all of us home, you included, just so you know." _Shut up. Just shut up. Keep moving_. "Your partner needs you Nell. And you need him." _I don't. Nothings wrong. He's coming back soon. Nothings wrong._ Shuffling. Footsteps. _Don't stop_.

(Hetty):

"Miss Jones, that tread on the equipment is going to be running thin. You cannot stay isolated forever, my dear. He died doing what he wanted to." _He isn't dead_. "When he came back after that first weekend, he couldn't wait to get back out there. He said he felt like he was doing something worthy" _He is. He is doing something worthy. He always has_. "He loved his job very much. He always has. Even during the tough times. It was who he was, he just had this innate need to help people, especially those who don't want help." _He does do that. It's what he's doing right now_. "It's ironic, is it not, that he is the only who could help now, I fear. Well, him and Mr Beale. Do not isolate yourself, Miss Jones, your team needs you." _People don't need me. He needs me to run that background for him he requested. I'll do it when I'm done here_. A sigh. "When you are done here, Miss Jones, you are to go home." _I'll run that check and send him the results, then I'll go. Don't stop._

(Eric):

"Nell?" _Oh God. Keep moving._ "Nell, I'm sorry. I should have come sooner." She felt her stomach clench at the heartbroken tone in her partner's voice. _Keep going_. "I don't know what to say." _Then don't say anything_. "I know you're not okay." _I'm fine_. "And I know you won't admit it." _Nothing to admit_. "But I'm not strong like you or the others." _Keep the pace_. "I'm not okay." Her steady pace falters at hearing the admission from her partner's mouth. She slips and the only thing stopping her from going flying is the safety strap on the treadmill with became detached from its anchor, automatically stopping the machine in its tracks. She falls forward, catching herself on her hands but not feeling the dull pain she knows intuitively would be there on impact. She's frozen. He doesn't move towards her, instead giving her the space she need to compose herself. As she stands and collects her water bottle she doesn't meet his eyes which are trained on her. She moves to the locker room and goes through the motions of showering and changing into her regular street clothes. Nell collects her things, intent on heading straight to her car. He's still there in the gym when she re-enters. He doesn't look like he's moved. "Nelly?" She falters once more, finally looking up to meet his eye.

She can tell he's been crying. His usually bright green eyes are an angry red and she can see the dried tear tracks on his cheeks. "I'm going home." She brushes past him and moves towards the door once more. She's surprised she can still feel her legs after the 3 hours she just spent on the treadmill. When she doesn't hear him come after her she turns and looks expectantly at him. _He looks so lost_. "Are you coming?"

"What?"

"I drove you this morning, didn't I?"

"Oh yeah." They both move out of the mission. Passing the bullpen she recognises the teams incredulous stares. She ignores them.

She knows that Eric is confused when she doesn't take the exit to his place. He doesn't say anything though. He doesn't say anything when she misses the exit to her place. He just sits silently while she drives. And drives. And drives. _Don't stop._

_**Anger**_

She finally pulls up at the beach. It's totally dark out now. They both sit in silence for some time after she shuts the engine off. She must have been driving for about 2 hours.

"Nell-" Eric starts but she gets out of the car quickly, slamming the door behind her. She doesn't move far away, just to the street, and then stops. She hears him get out and move towards her, but she doesn't acknowledge his arrival. "Nell, you can't-" He touches her arm and she flinches away from him like his touch burns her skin. She kicks her shoes off, not bothering to pick them up before moving swiftly down to the beach, not stopping when she gets to the waves. She hears him call after her but ignores him still. The waves are up to her waist now but she just keeps going. She hears him slosh through the waves and for some reason this just angers her.

"Back off, Eric!"

"No, you need to stop Nell!" The water is up to her neck now and she takes a deep breathe and ducks under the waves. A hand grabs her arm and yanks her roughly out of the water. "No! I will not let you do this!"

"Get off of me, Eric!" She screams at him, scratching at his hand and trying to tug her arm away from him. She doesn't care that she's causing a scene to anyone approaching on the beach.

"You don't get to give up!"  
"Give up! You think- I can't- You don't- Ahhhh!" She screams once more and her hand comes up and slaps him across the face, hard. Somewhere in the back of her mind she is surprised that she doesn't knock his glasses off. "You don't understand! None of you do! He's my best friend! He is as good as my brother! He took care of me when no one was there! My whole world was ripped apart and he was there to put the pieces back! I nearly died! He was the only one to give a damn about me!" She chokes, unable to scream anymore, all of her oxygen gone from screaming at him for so long. Instead she swings her arms once more, this time striking him in the chest. Once. Twice. Three times before he grabs her wrists and uses her own momentum against her, pulling her to his chest. He releases her wrists and wrap his arms tightly around her. She struggles ferociously against him but he is unrelenting. The fight drains out of her all at once and she sags against him, a hoarse scream escaping her throat, morphing into a sob that wracks her entire body. Somehow this just serves to anger her more, yet she cannot stop. He doesn't comment. Just holds her tighter, moving back inland towards the beach and out of the waves. He is whispering to her, but she doesn't hear him. Just continuing the infuriating half sob half scream. _Stop! Please stop!_

**_Bargaining_**

Eventually the sobbing ceases and she's left slumped against him, soaking wet and shivering. He kisses her hair once and half carries her the rest of the way up the beach to where her car is. He had moved her shoes into the car, but left it unlocked. He seated her on the bonnet and moved to open the boot, retrieving the towels that she leaves there for trips to the beach and closes it, coming back to her. He wraps a towel around her, and takes another one, throwing it over the passenger seat of the car. Leaving the others piled on the roof he takes her hands and pulls her gently off the hood and seats her in the passenger seat. She gives him a small smile, not exactly sure how thank him. He dried off outside the car, throwing a towel over his own seat before jumping in. It's not until they're back on the road and moving towards home that she speaks up.

"Why him?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why him?" She repeats, "There are so many people out there who deserve, deserve to die." She gets choked up on the last words and presses her lips together tightly before another sob escapes.

"Nelly, I don't have any answers for you. You know that. There is no logical, reasonable, or satisfactory answer that me or anyone else can give you. He wouldn't be able to give you any either." She can't stop the tears that leak out.

"It's not fair."

"It's never fair, or easy." He stretched his hand out to her and touches her knee briefly before pulling his hand back. She doesn't speak again, favouring instead to just hug the towel around her tighter and stares out the window. _He didn't deserve it. It wasn't his time. He was a psychologist, for Gods sake! He wasn't a fucking agent. This wasn't his job, to put his life on the line_. She feels him grab her knee again, but this time he doesn't let go. Instead he brushes his thumb against her skin. _Don't stop_.

_**Depression**_

The car stops moving but she doesn't move from her position, sitting, staring out the window. She feels his hand retreat, hears him cut the engine and get out of the car. The next thing she knows he's opening her door, taking her hands and pulling her around to get her feet out of the car. It crosses her mind briefly that she is being treated like a rag doll, but she doesn't have the strength to do anything about it. He pulls her to her feet and she feels the muscles she had worked to their extremes at the mission protest angrily against the movement. She's grateful for Eric's grip on her arms to hold her up. When he realises that she can't support her own weight he wraps an arm tightly around her waist, pulling her to him so he can support her weight and closes her door before seating her on the bonnet like he had done at the beach. He locked the door then comes back around the car to her. It's cold, but she doesn't find herself caring, even as she's shivering.

"Come here, Nell." Eric wraps his arms around her but she can't bring herself to move to respond. When he feels her shudder violently he takes half a step back before sweeping her up into his arms bridal style. She doesn't move to hold on to him when he hoists her up. When he gets to the door to her building he manages to use the security swipe card to get in without putting her down but the door to her apartment is a different story. Since there were a series of break ins in the building she had added two extra locks to her door. As he puts her feet down she slumps against him, thankful that he kept one arm wrapped around her waist whilst fumbling with the keys. Eventually he manages to get the door open, letting it swing wide as he scoops her up once more. She thinks its sweet how he is especially careful not to bump her head on the door frame as he takes her in, moving straight through to her kitchen and sitting her on the bench in the corner. He goes back to close and lock the front door and she just sits there. Unable to move. Unwilling to.

"Nell, you have to get into something dry," he says, coming back into her field of vision. She nods weakly, but makes no move to do as he said, "Nell, come one. Please." His tone is soft and has a slightly begging edge to it. As much as it breaks her heart to hear it she can't bring herself to comfort him. Sighing he picks her up again, carrying her up the stairs to her mezzanine bedroom. Here he drops her into the hammock chair strung up by her cabinets before rifling through her wardrobe on the other side of the room, throwing a t-shirt, hoodie and sweatpants onto the bed. "I'm going to get some dry towels for you, but you have to get change, Nell." He reiterates, running back down the stairs. She hears the opening and closing of the linen cabinet under the stairs and his foot falls on the wooden stairs coming back up. She doesn't move. "God dammit, Nell, move!" Eric growls out, frustrated now at her unresponsiveness. His harsh tone gets to her, she's never had it directed at herself, and he so rarely uses it anyway. She eventually stands, not acknowledging the pain in her muscles, and moves to him, taking one of the towels. He smiles at her slightly, an apologetic look in his eyes, and turns to head back downstairs. He turns briefly, "I have to go and get some clothes," he must have seen the panic she felt expressed on her face because he stops here and comes back to her, grasping her arms firmly, "I'm coming back, Nell, I promise. I'm just going home to get changed. I'll be back soon. I want to see you in warm clothes when I get back though, okay? Have a shower to warm up. I'll have to take your car, but I'm coming back, okay?" He turns again and this time when he goes down the stairs its her front door that she hears open and then close. And then silence. Eventually she moves from where she is dripping on her wooden floors, collecting the clothes her partner had put on her bed, grabbing clean underwear and socks from one of the drawers, and slowly making her way downstairs to the bathroom. When she gets there she puts the clothes on the clear shelf opposite the shower before turning the water on full blast, turning the temperature gauge to hot and letting it warm up as she stripped out of her soaking wet clothes, throwing them into the bath tub. She stepped into the shower, welcoming the sting of the scalding water on her frozen skin, and just stands under the running water.

She doesn't know how long she stood there, but the next thing she knows she can hear her front door open and Eric call out to her, "Nell? I'm back!" Not being able to muster her voice she doesn't answer, figuring that he would be able to work out that she is still in the shower. However his arrival prompts her to move, and she briefly washes her hair and scrubs the non-existent salt from her skin before shutting the water off and stepping out of the cubicle, reaching for her towel. Giving herself a cursory dry she notices that her skin is an angry red, a result from the combination of being held under the scorching water and the high pressure of the water hitting her skin. She throws on her clothes, before running the towel threw her hair to remove the excess water. Throwing her towel in with her wet clothes, _I'll just get them later_, she leaves the bathroom, shuffling into the open living area. Eric is in her kitchen making a pot of coffee. When he sees her he smiles. He's changed out of his dripping clothes into track pants and a hoodie, his hair still wet.

"Hey, where are your mugs?" He asked, going and getting the cream out of her fridge.

"Top cupboard." She murmured, her voice hoarse from her screaming fit earlier. He got two mugs, pouring coffee into both, adding cream to one and sugar to the other. She just stood watching him uselessly manoeuvring around her kitchen comfortably. When he turned to her and handed her her coffee she took it from him with a small smile, wrapping both hands around the mug allowing the heat to spread threw her. They stood there awkwardly for a moment before she turned and shuffled into the lounge, curling up in a ball on her sofa. He followed and sat at the opposite end, giving her space that he thought she needed.

They sat there for what felt like an age, draining both their mugs, but didn't move. Nell knew she took Eric by surprise when she moved, taking his empty mug from his hands and putting it along with hers on the coffee table in front of them. When she sat back, instead of retreating back to her corner she moved his arm and curled up into his side.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled closing her eyes and wrapping one arm around his waist. He moved, letting her slip her other arm behind him so that she could give him a proper hug, "Deeks said, said you were sick when, when Hetty.." she trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

"Don't worry," he whispered into her hair, returning her embrace and leaning his cheek against the top of her head where it rested on his shoulder, "You had to deal with it yourself. I understand." Nell felt him shudder slightly and wasn't totally surprised when she felt hot tears drip onto her hair. She didn't say anything, just squeezed him gently and buried her head into the crook of his neck, offering a little comfort. Silence fell upon the pair again, punctuated only by soft, hitching breaths as Eric cried quietly.

When Nell woke to feel something moving next to her, for one, heart stopping moment she forgot all about the happenings from the day, but when she opened her eyes to see Eric trying to extricate himself out from under her without waking her up it all came flooding back. The call from Hetty, going down to her 'office', getting the news, yelling at her boss, telling her it wasn't true, that it was beyond cruel for Hetty to lie to her about this, the pain of knowing deep down that Hetty is always right, running to the changing room, putting on her gym gear, the manic running on the treadmill. All of it.

"Hey." She murmured, sitting back up.

"Hey, go back to sleep." He whispered, bending to kiss her forehead.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to head home, I promise I'll come back in the morning."  
"Please," she grabbed his hand as he pulled away from her, "I really don't want to be alone."

"Nell-" Eric started, his tone reluctant

"Please Eric." He sighed, shaking his head.

"Okay." Nell stood, not letting go of his hand, and headed towards the staircase to her room.

"Er, Nell, what?" Eric asked, not moving to go with her.

"Eric, if you're staying here I'm not going to let you sleep on the couch. It's barely big enough for me, let alone you."  
"Nell, I don't think thats such a good idea."

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Eric." Nell said, tugging his hand and, when he didn't resist her, moved up the stairs. When they got to her bed she took off her hoodie, climbing into the big bed with just her sweatpants and t-shirt on. Eric stood awkwardly at the foot of the bed, playing with the hem off his hoodie. "What is it?" She asked, sitting up against the mountain of pillows.

"I- I don't want to, to make you uncomfortable," he stuttered, "I think I should just go."

"Eric, don't be stupid. Please, I want you to stay here, in this bed, with me." She huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Fine!" He huffed, coming around the other side of the bed, snatching his glasses off and dropping them on the nightstand before yanking his hoodie over his head. She smirked at his childish attitude, but snuggled down under the covers. She felt the bed dip as he laid down next to her under the covers, but stayed resolutely on his side. Rolling her eyes she rolled over and moved his arm like she had done earlier and snuggled into his side once more. Eric stiffened at the contact, but when it became clear that she wasn't going to move away anytime soon he merely relaxed and wrapped his arm loosely around her shoulders. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Nell." Was the last thing she hear him mutter, his fingers stroking her arm. _Don't stop_, she thought before sleep claimed her once more.

_**Acceptance**_

When Nell opened her eyes for the second time, the sun came flooding in through the windows opposite the mezzanine floor. She sighed as once more memories of the previous day came flooding in with the light. She felt Eric shift his arm that was acting as her pillow slightly and shuffle around behind her. Deciding against waking her partner, who needed his rest after the trying day they had both had the day before, Nell slipped out from under the sheets and made her way down the stairs silently. Not wanting to make noise she quietly pottered around her kitchen, washing and putting away their mugs from the previous night and making some toast which, when finished, she took out to the courtyard in the middle of her buildings complex. There were sun loungers set up in the small area, which was deserted at 5am, despite the area being flooded with sunlight. She sat on one of the loungers and drank her coffee, enjoying the silence, allowing her thoughts to wander.

She remembered when she was 18 and her family had just dropped her off at CalTech. It was a bright day and the dorms and campus were swarming with freshmen and their families. Some were happy, laughing and smiling with one another, others were crying and hugging. Nell's family were somewhat in between, her mother was tearful and hugging her 'little Nellikins' at any chance she got, her dad was kidding around with her any chance he got when she wasn't being smothered by her mothers ministrations. As she stood and waved her parents off as they drove away, a tall guy who appeared to be a few years older than herself spoke to her.

"First time you've been away?" She turned and was immediately struck by how tall the guy was. As a short person, Nell was used to having to look up at people, but this guy, he would have been head and shoulders taller than even most average height people.

"What? No," she said, wiping a hand over her face, checking to see if any tears had leaked out, "Just the first one to go to college out of state."

"Ah," he said, as if she had just explained an extremely difficult math problem to him, "So you're the baby?"

"What gave it away?" She grumbled, "The overly emotional mother crying 'Oh, my baby' as she got in the car?"

"No, it was more your fathers stoic attitude."

"Stoic?"  
"Whilst mother's are openly emotional in front of their children, fathers still see it as their place as head of the family to remain emotionally strong in situations that are trying on the whole family."  
"Ah," she said, mimicking his earlier tone, "Psychology major."

"What gave it away?" He parroted back to her. They both laughed slightly before he stuck his hand out to her, "Nate Getz, psychology major, third year." She took the proffered hand, smiling sweetly up at him.

"Nell Jones, computer programming and software engineering conjoint with Spanish and South American studies, freshman."

"Wow, Miss Jones, that's quite a degree you've worked up there."

"Well, what can I say, a challenge is why I'm here."  
"And a challenge you shall get."

Fast forward six months, her and Nate had become closer than family in spite of their age differences. Whenever Nell was sick of the party animals in her dorm she would escape to Nate's cosy apartment near the library, whenever Nate needed a test subject or an impartial opinion for a new theory he was developing he would drop by Nell's dorm and take her out for coffee. Despite all of her friends being convinced that they were an item neither of the duo could ever see the other in that light. Nell was Nate's little sister and he was her big brother.

It wasn't until her third year that Nate proved that she could trust him entirely. She was on her way home from the computer lab late one night and had taken a shortcut, even though Nate had told her to not ever walk home alone and to give him a call if she ever needed a ride. She should have seen it coming, but somehow she had missed the two guys walking down the alley towards her. By the time she did see them and turned around to head back the way she had come two more had come up behind her. The adrenaline started pumping through her veins. She struggled as their hands grabbed her, ripping her clothes and throwing her bag containing her phone out of her reach. She must have blacked out, because to this day she can still not remember the rest of the attack. But the next thing she can recall, she was alone, on the concrete, sobbing and shaking, her entire body screaming in pain. She managed to gather her strength and got to her bag, pulling out her phone and hitting Nate's speed dial.

"Nell? Are you okay? Its 3am, where are you?" She sobbed in relief, unable to get a coherent sentence out. "Nelly? You're scaring me! Where are you?!"

"Shortcut, oh God, please come, come get me." She sobbed before handing up. She tried to cover herself with the scraps that was left of her clothing, but didn't succeed. She must have blacked out again at this point.

When she awoke she was disorientated. The light was bright and there were machines surrounding her beeping and humming. The first thing she saw was Nate, next to her, looking haggard, holding her hand that didn't have the clip on her finger.

"Am I?" She managed to wheeze out, ignoring the pain for a moment.  
"Nell, thank God. I'm so, so sorry. I don't- I can't. You're not, you're not pregnant," He managed to choke out, "Who, who did this to you, Nelly?"

"I don't know. They had on, they had on masks." She wheezed before gasping at the pain coursing through her body. "What's wrong with me?"

"They beat you, badly," he growled, "You've got a couple of broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and enough bruises to make you look like you've gone 12 rounds with a heavy weight."

"I'm going to be okay, Nate, aren't I?" She whispered, looking pleadingly at her brother.

"Physically, yeah," he whispered, kissing the back of her hand. When she stiffened at the contact he sighed, "Psychologically? It's going to take a while. But I'm here Nell, I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

And he didn't. For the duration of her stay in hospital he was at her side any free time he had, when she was released she went and stayed at his apartment with him. He was her live in shrink. Or perhaps more accurately she was his live in patient. And the 6 months after the attack when she had her first date he was the one who was panicking when she got back at the end of the night. When Nate graduated 8 months after that she was the only one he told about the clandestine government job he was taking. And she accepted that she wouldn't be able to talk or see him again. It was painful, but she accepted it. They had a big going away party, just the two of them, and then he was gone. And she moved on with her life. Then, three years later, he walked into her highly secret office building and it was like he had never left. They picked up where they had left off, not trying to fill in the missing years, and went with it. And then he got sent out on another classified mission. And then he was back. It was a cycle, and they just accepted that this was how their friendship was going to be. When he had left before this mission he had promised to call her when he got back and he would take her out for dinner to make up for missing her birthday the next week. As this hit her she started to cry. Arms wrapped around her and Nell balked, hitting out at the body before she realized that it was just Eric. He didn't say anything, just hugged her and kissed her hair.

"He's never coming back." She choked out, fisting her hands in his shirt.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, just holding her tighter. When her sobs had died down he pulled back and wiped the tears from her face. "I know that this is hard for you, it's hard for all of us, but we're all here, okay? We're all here for each other, and whilst he may not be coming back, we will always have the team." He kissed her forehead and smiled at her. She smiled back weakly, nodding her head, and scrubbing the remaining tears from her face. "I'm going to go for a surf later, clear my head, you know," he said, standing and stretching, "You're welcome to come watch, if you want." She nodded once more and stood. Eric was right. The team would always have one another. She couldn't help but notice the sad look in his eyes even as he smiled, and she realised that it would take time for them to heal, but that they would.

In that moment she remembered something Nate had said to her. "You only flirt with me when Eric is around. Nell, do you have feelings for him?" And she remembered her fumbled reply some bullshit where she claimed Eric to be her brother. But she had never felt that way about Eric. That's how she felt about Nate. It was like being struck in the face with a tonne of bricks. _Nate was right. I'm in love with Eric_.

"Eric?" She asked, grabbing his hand to stop him walking away from her.

"Huh?" He turned to face her, a half smile on his face. Taking a deep breathe Nell reached up and pulled his neck so his face came down towards her and she kissed him gently on the lips. She pulled back quickly, releasing his neck as she did so, and blushed. They stood for a moment, just staring at each other, and then he moved. He put his hands gently on her neck and kissed her once more. She wrapped her hands around his waist and kissed him back. _Don't stop_.


End file.
